Historical Development of the Sunni And Shiite Theories of Law

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Table of Contents

History
Core similar practices
Islamic Law
Sunni Islam
Shia Islam
Conclusion
Works Cited

Today’s Muslim world is divided into two major sectors, namely Sunnis and Shias. Sunnis make up around 80-85% of the Muslim population. The remaining 15% is the Shias. Amongst the Muslim countries, Iran has the majority of Shia population.

There are noteworthy Shia populations in countries like Afghanistan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen. Today, Sunnis and Shias share most prominent sects of Muslims.

However, the differences between the laws and theories of both the communities have been responsible for intolerance and sectarian violence in some parts of the world where the two sects co-exist. This paper throws light on the history, development of the Sunni-Shia split and the differences in beliefs, laws and practices between the two sects. Some similarities are also included.

History

After the death of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in 632 AD, there emerged certain disagreements among the Muslims, The primary reasons for the disagreements were the issues of succession to the Prophet and the leadership of the Muslim community.

The debate was focused on whether to make someone who is from the family of Prophet (as he himself declared Ali as the next leader in his life) or to award leadership to someone who is socially admirable by the people who are to elect their next leader. Though many Muslims accepted this decision, some of the Muslims supported Ali (A.S). Ali played a major role throughout the struggles of the Prophet (PBUH) and the Muslim community from the early days of Islam.

The only problem was the thought to bring leadership out of Prophet’s family (Ze’evi). Supporters of Ali (A.S) wanted him to be the next successor as Ali was the one who spent time with Prophet more than anyone else. He was brought up by Prophet and was being taught all in depth be Prophet himself. On the other hand, Abu Bakr accepted Islam in his old age. His whole life was spent as a non-Muslim.

However, Abu Bakr was socially famous in Arabs and due to his strong community, he was awarded the leadership of the Muslim community and Ali (A.S) became the caliph later on (Blanchard). Muslims also presented a reason to choose Abu Bakr from the fellows of Prophet (PBUH) that he was older and senior than Ali (A.S) while this reason was not quite valid as there was another Sahabi (fellow of Prophet) Salman Farsi who was more aged than Abu Bakr.

Some of the Muslims felt that it was unjustified not to name Ali as the leader. These Muslims supported Ali more than his counterparts. These were the people who considered Abu Bakr and some other notable companions to be illegitimate candidates for leadership as most of them did not belong to the family of Prophet (PBUH) or his bloodline and were not intimated by Prophet as the next leader when Prophet was among them. Later, some of the supporters of Ali murdered the third Caliph Usman in 656 AD due to some political conflicts and unfair actions by Usman.

Usman appointed his cousin Muawiyah as Governor for Syria. Muawiyah was not the capable candidate so this action proved personal favor and it ultimately raised more conflicts. Ali had no connection with the assassination of the Caliph by any mean. After the death of the third Caliph, Ali was made the Caliph for the Muslim community.

Ali was later martyred in 661 AD, and his son Hussein was killed in a battle against the army of a wicked caliph in 680 AD. Ali’s eldest son Hassan is also respected by not only Shia Muslims, but by the entire Muslim community who believes that he was poisoned by the Sunni caliph Muawiyah.

Those who supported Ali and believed in his superiority became Shia Muslims. The term Shias are the supporters of Ali. But the other group did not agree with the concept of political succession based on bloodline to the Prophet though it was not just the case of bloodline.

The caliphate later declined as a religious and political institution after the 13^th century. The term “caliph” continued to be used by some Muslim leaders until 1924 though the Islamic element was absent. Then it was overthrown by the Turkey’s first President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The abolition of the caliphate in 1924 became alarming to many Sunni Islamic activists during the nineteenth and twentieth century, and to this day, the Muslim world is in search for an undisputed leadership at the head of a billion strong Muslim populations..

Core similar practices

All the Muslims are to live in harmony with the five pillars of Islam:

Shahada—recital of the belief “There is no God, but Allah, and Muhammad (PBUH) is his last Prophet” (Wikipedia);
“Salat—five obligatory prayers in a day;
Zakat—giving alms to the poor” (Blanchard, Islam: Sunnis and Shiites).
Sawm or Fasting—fasting from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadan.
Hajj—As per Blanchard, “making a pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime if one is physically and financially capable” (Blanchard).

Islamic Law

Islamic law developed through the Mecca and Medina periods during the stages of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) prophet-hood. During the early Mecca period, the small group of believers was persecuted, assaulted and often murdered by their unbelieving families. Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) prescribed moral and ethical attitude for the believers and discouraged and kind of violent confrontation.

He advised polite disassociation from the unbelievers in order to reduce the frequency and extremity of conflicts between the Muslims and the unbelievers of Mecca. He proposed defensive methods such as “kitman” which means to keep a secret and “takiyya” which means complying with the religious teachings in case of conflict.

Another approach adopted was to keep limited contact with non-believers. These defensive approaches gained scholarly acceptance and later during the Medina periods became a priority codified formally in the Islamic law. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) gave practical guidance for deciding conflicts by encouraging the Muslims to carefully contact the non-Muslims in order to protect the Muslim community against hostile forces.

Relevant revelations include Surah (chapter) 3 verse 28, Chapter 4 verse 139, Chapter 4 verse 144, chapter 5 verse 57, chapter 9 verse 23, and chapter 60 verses1, 2 and 13. These revelations made it clear to the Muslims to keep away from the non-believers and not to be friend the idol worshippers or to keep any kind of association with the non-believers as they were the open enemy of the Muslims.

Codification is rare in both Sunni and Shia laws. Instead, there are sources for the interpretation of laws. Shia interpretation also allows more space for human analysis than the Sunni interpretation (Gawthrop).

Sunni Islam

Sunnis make up the majority of the Muslim population today. Sunnis believe that the leader or the “imam” of the Muslim community should be elected on the basis of public consensus. Political order and the capabilities of the candidate are to be given the highest priority while deciding to award him the leadership. This principle has been practiced by the Sunni Muslim community throughout history. Sunnis have a less complicated and debatably less powerful political hierarchy as compared to the Shias.

Sunnis and Shias show slight differences in the performance of their daily obligatory prayers.

The schools of jurisprudence rely usually on traditions and analogy or correlation to devise legal rulings. In some countries like Turkey which boast about their secular system, the opinions of the religious scholars give moral and social guidelines for Muslims.

The four schools of jurisprudence are the:

Hanafi: The oldest school of jurisprudence. It was founded in Iraq by Imam Abu Hanifa.
Maliki: “It is prevalent in countries like Northern Africa, Mauritania, Kuwait, and Bahrain” (Blanchard, Islam: Sunnis and Shiites).
Shaf’i: “This school was found by Imam Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi’i. It is widely followed in countries like Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, parts of Yemen, Indonesia, and Malaysia” (Blanchard, Islam: Sunnis and Shiites).
Hanbali: This school was found by Imam Ahmad Hanba. “It is followed in countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, parts of Oman, and the United Arab Emirates” (Blanchard, Islam: Sunnis and Shiites).

Shia Islam

The Shia sect had a wide following in countries which are now called Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and parts of the Central and South Asia. In most of the world today, Shias form the minority of the Muslim population. Today, Shia Muslims constitute about 10% to 15% of the world’s Muslim population (Blanchard).

Leadership

In Shia Islam, the first true leader of the Muslim community is Ali, who is considered an Imam (leader). Imam is a term used among Shia Muslims not only to emphasize leadership qualities and respect, but also to indicate blood relations of the Imam to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Shiite Practices and Beliefs:

Shia religious practices are based on the remembrance of Ali’s younger son, Hussein (A.S), who was martyred near Karbala a town in Iraq by the so-called Sunni forces. Under the leadership of non-deserving and a wicked ruler Yazeed who was not capable by any mean to be a caliph in 680 AD in a political clash between the two sides. On the day of Ashura, the Shia community commemorates Hussein’s death by performing rituals of voluntary lashes and sadness as a sign of grief and pain.

Sunnis / Shias Disparity

The most major difference between the two sects emerged on the occasion of the death of Prophet (PBUH) and the succession of Abu Bakr as the new leader. Abu Bakr was not as deserving as Ali (A.S) as Ali was Muslim and a follower of Prophet (PBUH) since day one of the prophet-hood. Prophet himself declared him as the next caliph, but unfortunately, people didn’t follow prophet’s preference as Abu Bakr was socially and financially stronger than Ali (Jeffrey Hays ).

As far as law is concerned, there can be many differences pointed out to. To name a few:

Laws regarding Divorce

In Sunnis, Divorce is easy and is done when a husband says verbally that he divorces his wife three times. On the other hand, Shia divorce is done by two Islamic leaders where they recite a Quranic verse and both the husband and wife are divorced.

In Sunni Law verbal divorce is seriously taken, even in anger one can divorce though there is much debate on the issue whether a divorce is permitted in anger or not. It is advised by many scholars that utterance of the word Talaaq (divorce) be made after intervals not all at once. However, Sunnis accept Talaaq even if it is done in anger with one three attempts in one go.

In Shia law divorce in anger has no value. Ulma and scholars give sufficient time to husband to think over his decision. So that he leaves a lady in all senses in a specified span of time.

Laws regarding religious authority, leadership and succession

In Sunni Islam, leaders are to be selected on the basis of individual capabilities of the candidates and consensus among the senior members of the community. In Shia Islam, the leader has to be from the bloodline of the Prophet (PBUH) and genuinely deserving of the position of the leader.

Temporary Marriage Agreement

Sunni Islam does not give permission for temporary marriage while Shia Islam gives permission. Mutah or temporary marriage is common in countries like Iran.

The issue of the permissibility of Mutah has been debated by many scholars from both the sides, but there has never been the unanimous decision as Sunnis and Shias often do not accept the authenticity of the respective sources of law of the other party. However, descriptions indicate the history event where soldiers were sent far of their families for battles where they had to stay for long.

Their sexual needs were making them impatient and sick. It has been said that at that time, Islam allowed them to engage in duration based marriage with some lady who must not be unmarried. A lady may be someone who is involved in physical business or is divorced, etc. There is a strict law for Muttah. The validity of Muttah can be verified from Surah Nisah (in Al-Quran) that indicates it as valid.

Clergy

In Shia Islam, Imams and Ayatollah are given highest authority. In Sunni Islam Caliphs are given the highest authority.

Traditions

Some traditions also differ between the two sects. Both Shias and Sunnis are reluctant to accept the books of tradition and sayings of the other party.

Roza and Namaz

Roza is fasting and Namaz is offering prayers. Shiites and Sunnis offer prayers identically. Sunnis pray directly on cloth while the Shias pray over Turba of mud especially used when prostrating as they believe that prostrating is not allowed on something that can be used to cover body.

The fasting concepts of Sunnis and Shias differ in the length of time. Sunnis fast from dawn to dusk while Shias commence the fast earlier before dawn and break the fast a little later than the Sunnis. As it is stated in Al-Quran that one should begin to fast in dark and end up fasting when dark is seen.

Conclusion

The development of the two major sects of Muslims has been continuing for centuries. It was not until the 19^th century that the differences between the two sects led to violent conflicts and bloodshed.

For centuries, such differences were not allowed to disrupt the integrity of the Muslim community though these differences existed. In the modern world of secret games, fear politics, superpowers, alliances, warfare and the divide and rule doctrine these differences between the two sects have been highlighted and propagated to such an extent by an extremely biased and corrupt mass media that at times these sects of one mighty religion became bloodthirsty enemies of each other.

The differences, big and small, in law and the sources of law have negligible influence of one party on the actions of the other party. Though many scholars have attempted to debate over the issue of sectarianism in Islam (which is prohibited by divine revelations) not so many practical solutions have been devised to reconcile and reunite the two groups (Brown).

Works Cited

Blanchard, Christopher M. “Islam: Sunnis and Shiites.”2006. DTIC. Web.

—. “Islam: Sunnis and Shiites.” 2008. Congressional Research Service. Web.

Brown, Daniel W. A New Introduction to Islam. 2nd. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing, 2009.

Gawthrop, Wm. “The influence of Islamic Law on Intelligence.” Investigative Project. Web.

Jeffrey Hays . “Facts and Details.” 2009. Shiite History and Differences Between Sunnis and Shiites. Web.

Wikipedia. “Muhammad.” 2010. Wikipedia. Web.

Ze’evi, Dr. Dror. “The Present Shia-Sunni Divide: Remarking Historical Memory.” 2007. Brandeis. Web.

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